Elizabeth
by uyay
Summary: Elizabeth backed away slowly until her back was against the wall. "G-Gomen'nasai." tears welled in her eyes. "Gomen'nasai. I, I know you don't know me, and this must be awful for you. But I want to help you get your friend Mai back. And, and I want to go home." OC and AU-ish.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Elizabeth

"Mai? Mai?" Ayako walked into Mai's bedroom to find her fast asleep on the western styled bed. The young girl was laying on her side, knees tucked in, with a red comforter pulled up to her chin. "Mai? Wake up! It's the new year!" The shrine maiden laid a pale hand on the girl's shoulder and shook gently.

"Mmm. No. NO! I don't want to!" Mai murmured, seemingly in her sleep, before thrashing about wildly. "No! no! Stop! Ahh!" It stopped suddenly, and Ayako placed a timed hand on her cheek. Mai's skin was freezing to the touch. Ayako leaned down so that her ear was by the girl's mouth, listening for her breath. It was shallow, but there.

"Mai?" Ayako reached for her phone and pressed speed dial. The person on the other line picked up on the first ring.

"Ayako? Did you get Mai for the celebration? You better hurry before Naru changes his mind."

"M-Monk?" Her voice was shaky.

"Ayako? What's wrong?"

"I need you to get the others. There's something wrong with Mai."

…

"Ayako?" Monk's concerned voice called.

"In here! I'm in here!" she voiced, eyes fixed on Mai's scarily still figure.

Monk was the first to enter, followed by Naru, Lin, Masako, Yasu, and John. Everyone walked up around the bed besides Lin-he froze at the doorway.

"Lin?" Naru asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Get away from her. She's not Mai."

They did as instructed-backing away slowly. Yasu snorted in irony. "Go figure Mai would get possessed on New Years."

"She would do that," Monk smirked only to get smacked upside the head with Ayako's purse.

"I'm not so sure," Masako butted in. "I don't sense anything. How can you be sure that's not Mai, Lin-san?"

"Her aura. It's not Mais," Lin explained.

"You can sense other people's auras?" Yasu asked. Lin nodded.

Mai, or rather her body, started convulsing. "Mia!" Ayako cried as she started towards her side.

"No! Ayako-san, you don't know who or what that is!" Lin protested; his words stopped Ayako dead in her tracks.

"Ahhhh!" Mai's body screamed in pain. It sat up straight, taking in sharp breaths, before falling back in the bead. It stayed that way before shooting up again with awestruck eyes. "Where am I? Who are you? What's going on?" It backed up against the wall with it's knees tucked in.

"Do you know who you are?" Naru, level headed as ever, asked.

"E-eto, e-Elizabeth. Who are you? Where am I?" she repeated after giving her name.

"Do you know if you are dead?" Naru asked-effectively ignoring her.

"Dead? I'm dead?"

"Should I try to exorcise her?" John whisper asked. He kept his stuff on him just in case.

"I'm telling you, I don't think it's a spirit," Masako whispered back, but Naru nodded at John anyways..

John walked up to her. She was looking at them with confused eyes. Her eyes snapped to his, and he started. "In the beginning was the word-"

"And the word was with God, and the word was God," she spoke with John, startling him, but he continued. She shivered as the holy water hit her. "The intro to the book of John. What of it?" John held his rosary onto her forehead, but before he could speak, she interrupted. "Ano, are you trying to exorcise me? Because I don't think it's working." Her hand reached up to meet his, and pulled the rosary down where she could see it.

"I've seen strong spirits do that to my wards, but never to John's exorcisms. Does that happen?" Ayako asked no one in particular.

"No," John muttered in shock.

"Told you it wasn't a spirit," Masako hissed.

Elizabeth held John's hand in front of her, gently, so she could see his rosary. She smiled softly. "So beautiful." She sighed, admiring the gold figure with the red stones at each point of the cross. "I never understood why rosaries were for Catholics. Christians I understand, but not Catholics. I've always thought they were pretty and have wanted one, even though I myself am an Evangelist."

"You're a Christian, Elizabeth-san?" John asked.

"No need to be so formal, Nīchan," she told him while nodding.

"You can call me John."

"Ok, John then." Elizabeth nodded.

"Some how taking over Mai's body and she's already won one of us over." Masako turned her eyes away and glared at empty air.

"So, who are you guys? And where am I?" Elizabeth asked.

"A small town in Japan. I'm Shibuya, or Naru, and that's Masako, Ayako, Monk, Yasuhara, and my assistant, Lin. You've already met John." Naru motioned to each person in turn.

Elizabeth nodded before asking, "And what about-" She cut off at the glare Masako sent her way. "Never mind, I thought I saw someone else."

Naru raised an eyebrow before continuing, "At the moment, you happen to be inhabiting the body of my other assistant: Mai Taniyama."

"Ah." Elizabeth gasped. "Gomen'nasai!"

"So where are you from?" Lin asked; his laptop open and balancing on his arm. "And your full name, please."

"Eh… Elizabeth Janette Tyler. I'm from Coolridge, Michigan."

"Just a minute." Lin's slender finger danced over the keyboard. After a couple of clicks he turned the computer towards them. "Is this you?"

She gave a slow nod. A frail girl laid on a large bed. Her skin was an unhealthy shade of white, her hair was black and wiry, and her lips were chapped. Her green eyes were dull, and you could see her bones. Above the image was a caption that read 'Young Girl Gives New Meaning to Depression'.

"That's you?" John asked, turning to the girl.

"Yeah, that's me."

"You don't sound depressed to me," Masako sighed.

"No. She started making a comeback last year. I remember doing a case study on it," Ayako informed her.

"Wow, the complete opposite of Mai," Monk laughed. "Our happy-go-luck Mai and Miss-redefining-depression Elizabeth."

"Monk!" Ayako hit the older man with her purse. "Be nice!"

"It's fine." Elizabeth rubbed her arms, for the time being, subconsciously. "Now what?" She squinted her eyes in timid confusion.

"Get dressed," Naru said, motioning to the slip she was currently in. Elizabeth blushed and pulled the blankets around herself. "Then we'll work on figuring out what's happening. We'll be in the main room."

Elizabeth nodded-eyes trailing on them as they left. She shifted out of bed and made her way to the closest to the side of the room. Upon opening it, she realised that Mai Taniyama did not believe in the word 'warm'. Weeding out what would be the coldest of the bunch, she settled on a pair of ripped, bleached jeans and a lightweight, forest green turtle neck. She may have shivered more than a few times, but it produced more heat than most of the other options.

Walking out into the main room of Mai's apartment, Elizabeth saw that everyone besides Masako was sitting on sofas, chairs, and stools. "Masako had to leave for a movie shoot," John explained. Elizabeth nodded.

"Elizabeth! You must be freezing!" Ayako exclaimed-jumping up from her spot on one of the stools and standing by her side.

"Hai. Umm, it was the warmest thing she had," Elizabeth explained. "Naru! Why haven't you made sure Mai had warmer clothes?" Ayako questioned him.

Naru sat up straighter and looked her in the eyes. "Mai is my employee, how she dresses is no concern of mine."

"Listen here! We may not have had a job in a while, but-" Ayako ranted on.

"But what?" Naru inquired.

"But Mai still showed up for work every day. The least you could do is make sure she's dressed warm enough for the season!"

"You are in no position to scold me Matsuzaki-san."

"Guys! Can we please not fight about this?" Elizabeth interrupted.

"No!" Ayako turned to her. "You may not care about the person who normally inhabits the body you are in now, but we do! I do! She's like a daughter to me!"

Elizabeth backed away slowly until her back was against the wall. "G-Gomen'nasai." tears welled in her eyes. "Gomen'nasai. I, I know you don't know me, and this must be awful for you. But I want to help you get your friend Mai back. And, and I want to go home."

**So there is the first chapter. Many thanks to Akira Xenoshi who agreed to get on me about updating this and my other stories (That was my one condition for posting this: someone pushing me). If you don't recognise some of the words, Gomen'nasai means I'm sorry and Arigato means thank you, also Hai means yes. Please review XD Arigato gonzimas (thanks very much), uyay**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Adaptation

"G-Gomen'nasai…" Ayako murmured and bowed her head in shame. "I know this must be harder on you than we can understand…"

"Ayako, Monk, and Jon, go talk to your superiors about the case. The party's off. Yasu, I need you to do research. Lin, you take M- Elizabeth clothes shopping," Naru barked out.

"But-" Lin started to protest.

"No buts! I need you to keep an eye on her incase anything happens while I contact BSPR." Lin glared at him, but he had a point. Elizabeth just starred in confused curiosity. Lin stood and held out his hand-she was still standing against the wall. She took it after a moment's hesitations. He gently pulled her away and dropped her hand before leading her out the door and towards the car.

…

Lin pulled her towards the sleek black car he claimed as his own. It was nice, but nothing over the top. It was….. simple. Lin liked simple. Which made sense to Elizabeth-Lin seemed like the simple type of guy. The windows were tinted just enough to give a feel of security, and the seats were a sophisticated black leather. Lin opened the passenger side door for her and let her situate herself before moving on to his own spot behind the wheel.

They didn't talk as Lin drove to the mall, nor when Elizabeth picked out a couple pairs of warm jeans, sweaters, socks, and shirts. It wasn't until they were heading back that Elizabeth finally cracked the silence. "You aren't Japanese."

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her through the corner of his eye.

She shrugged at the unspoken question. "You're not, are you?

"No."

"So where are you from? I know Jon's from Australia, and the other's are Japanese, but what about you?"  
"China."

"I've always wanted to go there. To study the language and culture first hand would be amazing…" Elizabeth awed dreamily.

"Mm."

"Why aren't you close with the others?"

This got her another eyebrow raise from the rather stoic man.

"You keep your distance from the others in the room and the only time you talk is when you're talking with Naru. There would be the possibility of you being shy, but if that was the case you wouldn't have protested at your instructions. You could not respect them enough to hold a conversation, but then why would you have listened to Naru after he explained? Maybe you just don't like to talk, but then there are other things, too. Like how you hardly acknowledge the others unless necessary."

"I don't like the Japanese. I don't particularly like Americans, either. They have wronged my country."

Elizabeth, who had leaned away from her seat to turn and face him, leaned back and shrugged. Her eyes stared out the window with a forlorn look. "We've done some pretty awful stuff. But then, so have Chinese."

"What do you meen?"

"Surely you cannot judge those who have done you wrong yet turn a blind eye to the wrongs you have done yourself!" she exclaimed. "We're human, we all make mistakes!"

"Some are simply bigger than others!"

"That doesn't make one person, or nation for that matter, better than another. We all make our mistakes, that's how we learn and grow!"

"But if it hurts people in the process-"

"Then we must learn to overcome it together!"

Lin, who had become tense and enthused during their conversation plopped back against the seat and sighed. "Why? Why would just dismiss our hurt?"

"We don't…. Our hurt is what shapes us. But we can't grow if we can't forgive." She followed his lead and visibly relaxed. She unclenched her fists to see that her nail had dug in and broken the skin of her palm. Seeing the bloody crescent moons in her hand, Lin pulled over and opened the glove department.

"Here." He grabbed a tissue and her hand, dabbing at her wounds.

"Thanks." She gave a sad sigh.

He looked up into her big brown orbs-so familiar yet so different. Maybe it was because eyes 'are the windows to the soul'. She wasn't Mai, she was Elizabeth. She was a totally different person. "Why recognise our ancestors' mistakes?"

"Why recognise the mistakes of another's ancestor's mistakes? It's true, we are not them, but neither are they. But it's important to recognise and learn from our ancestors' mistakes because then we've learned the lesson without hurting anyone. And if our ancestors made a wrong turn someone…. we aren't them, and we don't have to be ruled by that decision. No one should be ruled by their ancestor's mistakes."

"I've had people hit me when I told them I didn't like them for their race. others have yelled at me to hate them for them and not their race. Others yet simply got mad. But no one has actually argued and debated with me about it. Why?"

"I was bedridden with depression?" He nodded. "That's why. One day…. it just clicked. Everything fell into place-everything made sense."

"Isnt that a good thing?"

"No… It-it's scary. It's scary to know. To look at everything and just….. know…. To know everything I've done wrong and can never change….. can never right… To know all of the hurt people feel… To see the hope in everything, and know that no one would ever understand the light I saw. And worst of all…. For what felt like months, years, decades, on end, I felt trapped… trapped in thought. I couldn't stop. Everything got darker and darker, and I just….. just….. couldn't."

A single tear escaped down her cheek, and he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times not quite sure what to do or say. He decided on pulling away, handing her back her now clean hand and shoving the tissue in a small bag he kept for trash. "It-it's fine…" he murmured in a voice but a tiny bit louder than a whisper. He ended their conversation by pulling back on the highway to go to the office building, both he and she lost in thought.

…

"You look so cute!" Monk commented, enveloping Elizabeth in a hug before Ayako smacked him with her purse. Lin had brought Elizabeth back to the office building of SPR where the others were waiting, and in the bathroom she had changed into warmer clothes. She now adorned dark wash jeans; a long-sleeve black shirt; and a white, knit, pullover, turtle neck, sweater vest.

"Was it too awful with Lin-san?" Yasu teased.

Elizabeth shook her head. "He was pleasant enough company. We had a pretty interesting conversation."

"Eh?" Ayako asked in shock. "Lin hardly ever talks if it isn't to Naru, and even then a full blown conversation is pushing it!"

Elizabeth shrugged and Naru pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. Lin was quick to make and hand out tea. "Any theories?"

Everyone who did research shrugged. Yasu was the first to speak. "Most of what I found was movies like Freaky Friday. As far as I know, or anyone online for that matter, it's never happened before this."

"Ayako? Monk?" Naru asked.

"Nothing…." Ayako murmured.

"I only found one thing. My dad knew of a myth or prophecy of sorts that spoke of something like this. He didn't have it on him, so he's getting it now and will let me know when he has it."

"Jon?"

"Nothing… The only thing is multiple personalities and such."

"Oh!" Ayako exclaimed. "I have heard of people get injured, losing their memories, and thinking they were someone else that was fresh on their mind." The group exchanged looks. "But… Mai doesn't look injured." She motioned to Mai's body.

"Even if she was, that wouldn't explain why her aura's someone elses. I think it's safe to say that this is supernatural and not scientifical," Monk declared. Everyone nodded.

"So pretty much she's a freak?"


End file.
